Tag: liberty

This is a central issue to Libertarianism, when something belongs to someone then that property has to be taken care off and if harmed then there is a victim. But if no one one owns something then there isn’t really a reason to take care of it or to have a victim if the property is harmed. If the oceans were owned by someone then they would be taken better are off. This also applies to parenting where I give my kids certain special toys that are theirs and they can make an automatic claim on if another kid is playing with them. This will teach them about the importance of taking care of their own stuff and respecting each others private property.

I recently discovered A wonderful new Youtube channel aka The Jason Stapleton Program. A libertarian who discusses politics, the economy and other world affairs in a very analytical manner. I highly recommend this if you are interested in learning about the world and not yelling at your radio.

This is a video on how the poor are getting educated around and how their schools are comparable to publicly funded. The guest is a man who like most of us started never doubting that public education was the only way to get people educated until he started looking at schools around the world. It has changed his mind. This is for any one who has ever wondered how people would get educated if it wasn’t publicly funded or any one else who has been to school.

In recent years libertarianism has taken of like a rocket. There are many persons who are claiming to be libertarians or at least follow it as some kind of ideology. But one does need to be careful when one claims to be a libertarian because it isn’t a panacea to the worlds problems or your own personnal problems. It doesn’t solve the worlds issues magically and any one who says that might be deluding oneself. However, embracing libertarianism does put one on the right path, just as much as working out or becoming a christian points you in the right direction.

There are various factions that are within libertarianism from thick and thin, brutalists and humanists and lets not forget tea partiers and minarchists. But this is just like any other movement there are always various flavors and degrees of a movement cause not every one is going to agree with one another over what a movement holds. However what I am seeing is that there are various people who are leaving the movement because apparently it isn’t answering the questions they are asking. The Article Why I left Libertarianism: An ethical criritique of a limited ideology is written by a person who has left libertarianism because apparently his questions are not being answered. While I can understand some of this persons rationale I think that they are completely over looking the fact that libertarianism is a political ideology and there for does not provide salvation.

You still have to live your normal life and accept the day to day realities. It would be great to be able to have everything just fall into place and have the road be smooth sailing. But that is not the case at all, life is full of choice and communities. So the day to day events determine may determine what you do and what relationships you form but libertainism isn’t going to change who you are or how life turns out for you. But you do have the option to make decisions based on your philosophy and you can change the world around you.

I have run into quite a few young and new libertarians who say that they are libertarian and may or may not have a well rounded idea of what it means. Let me be the first one to say welcome. I am assuming that a lot of the recent interest in it is because people feel disaffected by the 2 major parties and want something new. Also the philosophy of libertarianism draws on 3 principles that appeal to people. Fiscal responsibility, not forcing morality on one another and the golden rule.

Many people start out being enthusiastic about being libertarian, but are not entirely sure where to go to gain more knowledge of this movement. One of the biggest issues I run into with starting out as a libertarian is that it is kind of hard to find basic resources that can lay a good foundation. There are quite a few resources out there that can help. This article is trying to lay down some basic places to go and books to read that will help you gain a well rounded understanding of what is libertarianism.

Websites:

For people very new to the movement there is Reason.com. Its a pretty decent website with plenty of good articles about libertarianism.

Now, then there is Mises.org. It is a massive resource with books and links and videos that you can down load. It can be a bit overwhelming.There are many books there some really long and theoretical others quite short and insightful. Please look around and see what strikes your interest

Learnliberty on YouTube is a series of videos produced by IHS and offer really good insights into Austrian economics.

Julie Borowski is on Youtube and Facebook. She was a prior republican who came over to libertarianism and has a produced a series of (funny) videos on the subject of libertarianism and is worth checking out.

Tom Woods at tomwoods.com is another individual that has many Youtube videos and a website with a lot of really good information.

These aforementioned websites are some of the resources I use to point new comers to gain further knowledge about libertarianism. There are many more resources and persons out there that are wonderful for gaining new information and understanding of the philosophy of freedom. Peter Schiff, Stephan molyneux, Gary North, Lew Rockwel and I can go on. However these individuals tend to be a bit more theoretical and I would recommend you check out the names mentioned at your own behest. You never know how far down the rabbit hole you will go.

One of the things that always bothers me is that people don’t seem to care about things that don’t belong to them. How many times have you dinged another persons car with your door and just walked away? How many times have you dripped coffee or food at your work and walked away thinking someone else will take care of this. The list just goes on and on of circumstances where people damage or scuff something that doesn’t belong to them and they just walk away. Now these are just small examples of a much larger problem known as the tragedy of the commons.

On a much larger scale we can look at people dumping their trash along the high way, it doesn’t belong to them so why should they care whether they keep it clean or not. Eventually the high way is cleaned by someone and it looks good again. People who rent a car or a house will frequently abuse the item and then return it to the owner. One of the worst ones is when public land is destroyed by the general public. You can see this with public lands where over grazing occurs or even chemicals can get dumped. The land doesn’t really belong to any one person so why should anyone really care to treat it with respect. It would probably make sense to abuse the land and maximize profit then really take care of it.

In contrast when something belongs to you, you want to take care of it and protect it from harm because you want it to last. People do regular tune ups to their car and will wash and wax it so that it stays around for a long time. This is the same for a house. A tree logger will cut down only so many trees as he needs and then will replant the area so that he has more trees to cut the next years. Farmers will take care of their land if they have to use it for the long term. A factory will not dump chemicals, if the land belongs to them and they have to stay there. The factory, would want to sell the land eventually and make some money of of it.

These are all real scenarios that I am talking about. When you own something you want it to be worth something and stay with you for a long time. It is the best solution to what is known as the tragedy of the commons. Privatization gives people ownership and responsibility for their property. It would force them to be accountable for the way they treat their land and how others behave on it. If noone owns the land or item then the item can get abused with out any real consequences.

In the previous articles that were part of this series I wrote about healthy foods and how my wife and I saw first hand the massive effects that soda and junk food had on our son. This led us down a road to allow some junk food but also focus on healthy eating. However I am fairly confident that most people don’t eat the way that my wife and I eat. But I would encourage anyone with young children to try this, the reason for this is that it will help with your childs temperament and lets not forget overall health. There are reports out there of children with diabetes as young as eight and not just that many kids have cavities and are over weight. I am not saying that this will happen to your children however it can happen.

Now I know that you may ask yourself what do you mean by healthy eating? I feed my children healthy foods. Sure many parents do, however this is what my wife and I do for our kids. First of we limit the amount soda or juice they get through the year. Not only is it high in sugar and caffeine which affects moods but also many of the ingredients in sodas are shown to cause cancer and tooth decay. Also many of the ingredients in candy and snacks are names that you can’t pronounce or have numbers with them. Should ingredients have numbers next to them? I don’t really think so. But regardless it has been shown that these chemicals can cause temporary issues in children, such emotional outbursts and anger. So while my kids do eat candy (especially around the holidays) the rest of the year it is largely a treat. (which can be used for bribery too, lol)

So, candy, sodas, snacks and juices are largely out. Well what does that leave us? Regular foods, my wife and I feed our children some cereals and the ever popular bacon and eggs. For growing children bacon and eggs are really good because they provide lots of protein to grow on. Also the high protein keeps them full for a long time. Cereals on the other hand gives them a rush of energy (especially high sugar ones such as the ones they like the most). For lunch we do breads with peanut butter and jelly and then dinner we give them vegetables and meat. I know this is tough cause many kids will balk at this. However I have two kids that are picky eaters, but we stick it out with them and kept telling them to eat the food. It took almost a year for this to get through their little brains but now they eat almost anything. So it can be done.

I write this because of my experience with other children who only eat sweets and or bacon. I see that many of them are over weight or look slightly malnourished. I worry that these children will end up with life long illnesses and diabetes. I hope these tips help in providing nutritious food for your kids.

Read more:

Part 1: http://libertariandad.wordpress.com/2014/01/22/a-bag-of-doritos-a-day-keeps-the-doctor-away-part-1/

Part 2: http://libertariandad.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/a-bag-of-doritos-a-day-keeps-httpthe-doctor-away-part-2/

In general homeschooling is better for children due to the attention the children get and the focused curriculum. However there are a number of reason why people wouldn’t homeschool, here are some of the reasons that I have gathered.

Financial, you have to have two people working to pay for expenses.

Military, a lot of military people homeschool their kids because they want to keep their kids education steady and not interrupt it every 2-4 years.

Some parents are not up to it, they can parent or teach not both. Sending your kids to school gives one time to do stuff around the house and pay more attention them when they come home.

Socialization, people don’t their children to grow up unable to interact with other humans.

Maybe some parents can’t be around their kids all day.

Some kids may not be that into homeschooling same with parents.

Single mom, I think this one is pretty self explanatory.

This list could go on and on…..

Regardless of what you do as a parent, the reality is that the best way to educate your child is to be involved with them.